Intersecting, modular barrier clamp joint



March 12, 1 968 e.c.RussELL 3,372,519

INTERSECTING, MODULAR BARRIER CLAMP JOINT Filed Oct. 23, 1965 3Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Agent GORDON C. RUSSELL INTERSECTING, MODULAR BARRIER CLAMP JOINT FiledOct. 23, 1965 G. C; RUSSELL March 12, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.GORDON C.- RUSSELL Agent v cs. c. RUSS-ELL March 12, 1968 INTERSECTING,MODULAR BARRIER CLAMP JOINT a Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 23. 1965INVENTOR.

GORDON C. RUSSELL Agent United States Patent 3,372,519 INTERSECTING,MODULAR mama CLAMP JOINT Gordon C. Russell, Studio City, Calif, assignorto Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Filed Oct. 23, 1965,Ser. No. 503,096 2 Claims. (Cl. 52-274) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Abuilding construction having a plurality of abutting vertical Wallpanels and a series of horizontal roof panels with a plurality oflocking plates being secured to reinforcing rods, extending through theroof panels, and tie rods, extending through the wall panels, to tie theadjacent roof panels together and to secure the roof panels to the wallpanels.

Background 0 the invention This invention relates to preformed buildingpanels and apparatus for tying the panels into interlocking roof andWall panels.

In the past there has been a need for prefabricated or preformedbuildings which can be constructed and erected by semiskilled orunskilled labor. Typically, a building is formed with a concrete floorand a series of wall panels formed from a cementitious material such asconcrete or a similar material. A flat roof is formed from similarcementitious materials. Some difficulty has been experienced in theprior art types of construction in that the unskilled workers havedifiiculty in aligning adjacent panels and typing roof panels into thewall panels into the floor Without the need for a sophisticated type offasteners or aligning devices.

The problems relating to such prefabricated or formed cementateousbuildings are twofold. Initial problem is hinged upon the simplicity ofthe construction due to the type of labor which is used to fabricatethese buildings. The second problem is directed to the cost of thematerials used in the buildings in addition to the cost of the labor inconstruction. Naturally, the lowest cost building includes the simplestdesign with the lowest amount of labor needed to construct the panelsand fabricate these panels into a functional building without unduedelay and acceptable quality.

Heretofore there has been some difiiculty in the manner in whichcementitious panels are tied together in the walls and tying these wallstogether with a roof in such a manner that the building is easy toconstruct with unskilled labor and is additionally able to withstand therigors of weather especially in extremes as in some areas of the countrythese buildings must withstand winds of up to 120 miles per hour withoutcollapsing or leaking. Some prior art types of construction have solvedthese problems but are more expensive than is necessary and are of suchconstruction that the labor is baflied or requires an undue amount ofeducation in order to form these types of constructions.

Summary of the invention In its broadest aspects, the present inventionis directed to a building construction in which a plurality of abuttingcast building panels are formed with a series of reinforcing rodsextending therethrough. Some of the reinforcing rods have extremitiesextending out of the panels and a locking plate having a series ofopenings extending therethrough are slipped over the reinforcing rodsextrernities so as to tie adjacent building panels together. A means forsecuring the locking plates engages the locking plate and forces thisplate against the building panels.

In accordance with the present invention, an aim is made to construct acementitious building using the necessary parts of the building toadvantage such that all parts of the building are tied together andanchored to a foundation with the minimum amount of parts and of aconstruction which is so simple that unskilled labor are able toconstruct the building without extensive training. It has been foundthat cementitious panels, especially those which are formed fromconcrete require that reinforcing rods are used to strengthen thesepanels to withstand tornadoes and hurricanes. By using these reinforcingrods as tie points for adjacent panels, it has been found that by usingthe present invention that a tying means can be used to couple adjacentpanels together by engaging the reinforcing rods.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a building using the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a joint of the building illustrated inFIGURE 1 showing in exploded fashion the building construction inaccordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a building joint having four panelscoupled together.

Detailed description of the invention Referring now to FIGURE 1, abuilding 10 constructed in accordance with the present inventionincludes a foundation 12 in the form of a concrete slab. All verticalwalls of the building are formed from a plurality of identically shapedvertical building wall panels 14 each mounted in abutting relation andupon the foundation 12. A vertical post 16 is secured to the foundation12 and extends as a corner of the building 10 and is abutting the wallpanels 14. A plurality of identically shaped roof panels 18 aresupported on spaced wall panels 14 and abut each other to form acomposite roof over the entire building Ill. An end roof panel 20 abutsthe roof panel 18 and has basically the same shape as the other roofpanels with minor changes which will hereinafter become apparent. A tierod 22 extends along the entire vertical height of the Wall panels 14and extends within the foundation 12 with an L-shaped foot 24. This foot24 extends in the foundation and may be formed as an integral unit or asa composite construction.

While the building illustrated in FIGURE 1 does not disclose theprovisions for such things as windows or door openings, these provisionscan be included without undue design and are well known by those skilledin the art.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, the vertical wall panels arepreferably formed from a homogeneous cementitious material 28 as, forexample, concrete, adobe mix, or any equivalent building material thatis used to form the main body of each panel. It is to be noted that boththe roof panels and the wall panels have a similar construction. Alocking band 29 extends around the periphery of each wall panel 14serving to protect the edges and has a cross section which is bestillustrated in FIGURE 2. This rocking band serves to prevent chipping ofthe panels and also to provide a cavity for the insertion of the tie rod22 between each adjacent wall panel 14. While not shown, additionalconventional fastening devices can be used to grip adjacent lockingbands 29 on adjacent Wall panels 14.

Each of the roof panels 18 includes a series of trapezoidally shaped,outwardly extending tongues 30 and 32 being disposed on an edge 34- ofthe panel. On each pposite edge 36 of the roof panels 18 is a series oftrapezoidally shaped depressions 38 which extend along and mate with theoutwardly extending tongues 31? and 32. These tongues and depressionsthen serve to lock the adjacent roof panels together and help serve toprevent leakage of rain through the roof. An extrusion 40 is disposedwithin each roof panel 18 and includes a flat plate 41 having a pair ofupstanding cars 42 and 43 for purposes of locking the extrusion 40within the roof panel 18 and being so disposed when the roof panel iscast from cementitious material. The plate 41 includes a pair ofdown-pending spaced-apart flanges 44 and 45 which extend on oppositesides of the locking band 29 and serve to center the roof panel upon thewall panels. The flanges 44 adn 45 also serve to guide the panels duringinstallation and serve to aid in assembly of the building. Each roofpanel 18 includes a hemispherically-shaped opening 46 extendingtransversely across the edge 34 and mates with the tie rod 22 therebypermitting the tie rod to extend through the roof panels. A rectangularopening 48 is disposed in each roof panel adjacent the tie rod 22 andmates with a similar shaped rectangular opening 49 on the adjacent roofpanel to form a cavity contiguous with each other.

For purposes of reinforcing each roof panel 18, a series of reinforcingrods 50 are imbedded within the roof panels each having extremities 51and 52 extending within respective rectangular cavities 48 and 49. Theseextremities 51 and 52 extend outwardly and are exposed thereby servingas an anchor for tying each adjacent roof panel together.

For purposes of tying all the roof panels 18 together, a locking plate54 being formed in the shape of a rectangular metallic strip includes acentral circular opening 55 which permits the insertion of the lockingplate over the tie rod 22. A pair of circular openings 56 and 57 extendthrough the plate and permit this plate to extend over the respectiveextremities 52 and 51 of the reinforcing rods 50 of adjacent roof panels18. The locking plate then prevents lateral movement of the roof panelsonce it is disposed in position. The circular openings 56 and 57 arelarge enough to permit the reception of the reinforcing rods extremities51 and 52 and leave a little tolerance to account for error inconstruction of each roof panel and in the assembly of the building. Aconventional threaded nut 58 extends over a threaded portion of the tierod 22 and is tightened upon the locking plate 54 until it places thetie rod in tension and compresses the roof panel against the wall panels14. Thus the tie rod then ties the roof panel against the wall panelsand also the locking plate serves to prevent lateral movement betweenthe adjacent roof panels.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, an alternative embodiment of the invention isillustrated wherein a vertical wall panel 14 supports four horizontallydisposed roof panels 60, 62, 64 and 66. While the remainder of thebuilding is not illustrated, this embodiment is best adapted for thesupport of roof panels upon interior walls, that is walls which are notfacing exteriorally from the building such as illustrated in FIGURE 1.Each of the panels 60456 has a respective reinforcing rod 60A, 62A, 64Aand 66A extending through each panel for purposes of reinforcing thesepanels in a conventional manner. These reinforcing rod extremitiesterminate and are exposed in a rectangular cavity 70 being formed at thejoint of the respective roof panels 60, 62, 64 and 66. A rectangularmetal plate 72 extends within the cavity 70 and has openingstherethrough for purposes of engaging the extremity 60A, 62A, 64A and66A much in the same manner as illustrated in the embodiment in FIGURE3. A vertically disposed tie rod 74 extends through the wall panel 14and projects upwardly into the cavity 70 and through the rectangularplate 72. A conventional threaded fastener 76 is threaded upon the tierod '74 and serves to force each of the roof panels 60, 62, 64 and 66into engagement with the vertical wall panel 14 and also preventslateral movement of these same panels by tying each of the reinforcingrod extremities together.

It is recognized that there are equivalent changes in the form ofconstruction. The particular shape of the cavities in their lockingplates are not necessarily restricted to those illustrated in thedrawings and other shapes are considered to be equivalent in the presentinvention. While the building construction as set forth in the presentinvention is directed to tying a roof panel to a series of wall panels,it is considered equivalent that a similar type of construction can beused to tie wall panels together and it is not necessarily limited tothe application of the types of construction enumerated here.

I claim:

1. A building construction comprising:

a foundation,

a plurality of abutting cast vertical wall panels mounted on thefoundation and a series of horizontal roof panels mounted on the wallpanels,

each roof panel including a series of reinforcing rods extendingtherethrough,

the roof panels having a plurality of cavities contiguous with eachother,

the reinforcing rods having extremities extendin g into the roof panelcavities,

a locking plate having a series of openings extending therethrough andextending over the reinforcing rods extremities and into each roof panelcavity so as to tie the adjacent roof panels together, and

a tie rod extending between each adjacent vertical wall panel and beingcoupled to the foundation and to the locking plate thereby forcing theroof panels against the wall panels.

2. A building construction comprising:

a plurality of abutting vertical wall panels and a series of horizontalroof panels, each roof panel including a series of reinforcing rodsextending therethrough,

the roof panels having a plurality of cavities therein,

the reinforcing rods having extremities extending into the roof panelcavities,

securing means separate from and extending between each adjacentvertical Wall panel and having an extremity extending into each of theroof panel cavities, and

a locking plate having a series of openings extending therethroughseated in each of the roof panel cavities, said opening receiving thereinforcing rods and securing means extremities, and tying the adjacentroof panels together, clamping means engaging the extremities of saidsecuring means and the locking plates, said clamping means fixing saidplates in said cavities and said roof panels to the wall panels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 917,859 4/1909 Fusch 52601 X1,067,854 7/1913 White 52--587 X 1,193,515 8/1916 Clark 52-583 X1,264,582 4/1918 Vergara 52-583 X 2,372,200 3/1945 Hayes 52293 X2,947,118 8/1960 Rockwell 52 -583 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,505,979 9/1953France.

HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner.

